The Bad River Band of Ojibwe have treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather sacred wild rice in the watershed near where Florida-based mining company Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) wants to build a large mine in the Penokee-Gogebic Range. Besides being a source of drinking water for the municipalities of Ashland, Highbridge, Marengo, Mellen, Odanah and Upson and a tourist attraction and logging interest, the rivers there provide outstanding recreational opportunities and supporting valuable fisheries and wildlife habitat.
The proposed mining operations would extract taconite, a type of low-grade iron ore, along with injecting the local environment with contaminants like mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals, sulfates, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. The Sierra Club analyzed other operating taconite mines in Michigan and Minnesota that have serious air and water violations.
While GTAC and the Fitzwalkerstan Cult supporting the mining operations and legislation partially written by the Florida-based Cline Group say there is “no danger to the public”, there is good reason to believe they are lying. GTAC’s owner, Christopher Cline, with a net worth of net worth of $1.7 billion, helped Walker’s campaign with a $10,000 contribution and gave nearly $30,000 to other Wisconsin politicians involved with the mining project.
Maybe Walker and those trying to shove through the mining legislation will get a ride on Cline’s 164-foot luxury yacht “Mine Games” as a reward for selling their soul for a cheap price.
Bad River Chairman Mike Wiggins, Jr. spoke at the The Joint Committee on Finance public hearing at the Capitol in Madison, WI on February 17, 2012 on Assembly Bill 426/Senate Bill 488, which relates to the regulation of ferrous metallic mining and related activities. It was a very educational commentary about the region, the issues and the importance of maintaining their culture. The audio is about 38 minutes.
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Courtesy: The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin
Despite what the Fitzgerald Brothers, Robin Vos and Scott Walker think, this battle is far from over:
Armed with its status as a sovereign nation and powerful treaties with the federal government, the Bad River Chippewa tribe has the legal muscle to do what Democratic opponents of an iron mine proposed for northern Wisconsin have so far been unable to do: halt or delay the project.
Those powers, say experts on American Indian law, appear to have been both underestimated and misunderstood by proponents of the mine, including Republican legislators who have been criticized for failing to consult with tribal members as they work on a bill to streamline permitting for the mine.
“All of us are going to get an education in federal Indian law,” said Larry Nesper, a University of Wisconsin-Madison scholar in Great Lakes Indian law and politics.
Nesper said Bad River and other Chippewa tribes have the power to challenge the proposed mine in federal court by invoking the federal treaties that protect their access to clean water and clean air.
Though they have not filed a legal challenge, tribal officials have consulted with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on whether the treaties may have already been violated by state legislators who didn’t work with Bad River on the Assembly version of the bill.
After the Assembly approved that bill, Bad River Chairman Mike Wiggins, Jr. said the tribe would consider legal options to force the state to include the tribe in discussions related to the mine and possibly to stop construction of the mine itself if it is approved.
“We’re here to appeal to reason,” Wiggins told members of the Legislature’s budget committee Friday. “But in order to protect ourselves we may have to look at some of these things.”
The tribe has staunchly opposed the 4 ½-mile long open-pit mine in the Penokee Range near its reservation. The mine would be built near the headwaters of the Bad River, which flows onto the reservation and nourishes the tribe’s extensive rice beds.
Glenn Stoddard, a lawyer for the Bad River Chippewa, called the treaties a “trump card” in the fight against the mine.
Presently, the legislation attempting to be passed essentially is ignoring what the Bad River Tribe had requested:
The Bad River Tribe presented 10 guidelines for mining legislation to Walker in September. They are:
- The definition of iron mining should be clearly set forth to exclude any project proposal that has the potential to cause acid mine drainage.
- The completeness of iron mining–permit applications should be clearly defined and the burden of preparing and submitting a complete application should be entirely on the permit applicant.
- The permitting time frame should be reasonable, flexible and consistent with federal agency time frames. It should also provide sufficient time for the DNR, the public, federal agencies, and affected Indian tribes, to fully review and participate in the permitting process.
- Wetland protection standards should be maintained and the federal/state partnership in the environmental review process under state and federal law should not be jeopardized.
- Federal clean water act implementation by DNR should be corrected and not weakened.
- There should be contested case hearings to allow full participation by interested parties, including Indian tribes.
- There should be no preemption of local control.
- Citizen suits should be maintained to make sure permit provisions and legal restrictions on new mines will be enforced.
- Consultation with Indian tribes by the DNR should be required as part of the permitting process.
- Interested party financing should be provided for the contested case hearing process.
Republicans have a 17-16 majority in the Senate with Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) wanting a more responsible bill that offers reasonable review timelines on environmental impact studies. He and and Robert Jauch (D-Poplar) had an alternative plan that changed the timeline to a more reasonable effort, although the usual Fitzwalkerstan suspects quickly whined it wasn’t good enough, i.e. actually good for Wisconsin’s environmental future:
The centerpiece of the senators’ alternative is replacing a 360-day review period in the Assembly’s bill with a 540-day deadline for the Department of Natural Resources to analyze and approve or reject a mining permit.
This 540-day timeline would also include a quasi-judicial review process, known as a contested case hearing, that is strongly opposed by many mining supporters, including WMC, which argue that it adds an unnecessary step to the process.
Other elements of the legislation:
As part of the 540-day review process, so-called “off-ramps” or timeouts can be called to slow the process when work can’t be completed on time.
The timeline includes 270 days to prepare an environmental impact statement and 270 days for the DNR to review a mining permit application.
The timing issue has been critical. Even though the Assembly version includes a 360-day timeline, there have been doubts the schedule is realistic. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which traditionally works with the DNR on environmental impact statements on major projects such as mines, said it could not meet the 360-day timeline.
“The Assembly bill is unrealistic,” Jauch said, adding that “360 days is simply not real.”
This may go all the way to the US Supreme Court.
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